American Scene

LOS ANGELES — Mammograms don’t help women over 50 as much as has been thought, new research suggests.

Only a third of the reduced risk of death credited to breast cancer screening is actually deserved - the rest is due to better treatment and greater awareness of the disease, a large study in Norway found.

The research, published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine, is the latest to show that the benefits of mammography are limited.

Last year, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that women at average risk for breast cancer don’t need mammograms in their 40s and should get one just every two years starting at 50.

The World Health Organization estimates that mammograms reduce the breast-cancer death rate by 25 percent in women over 50. Other groups put the figure at 15 percent to 23 percent.

GEORGIA

Megachurch pastor denies sex with young men

ATLANTA — The prominent pastor of a 25,000-member megachurch near Atlanta denies allegations in a lawsuit that he coerced three young men from the congregation into a sexual relationship, his attorney said.

Lawyers for two of the men, now 20 and 21, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in DeKalb County Court against Bishop Eddie Long. The third lawsuit was filed Wednesday.

President George W. Bush and three former presidents visited the sprawling New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta suburb of Lithonia for the 2006 funeral of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King. Mr. Long introduced the speakers and the Rev. Bernice King, the Kings’ younger daughter, delivered the eulogy. She is also a pastor there.

The men who sued were 17- and 18-year-old members of the church when they say Mr. Long abused his spiritual authority to seduce them with cars, money, clothes, jewelry, international trips and access to celebrities.